Welcome to my Site, TomboT - and the home of Liverpool Universities BEAM robotics
My name is Tom Elner, I am a graduate of The University of Liverpool with a 2:1 BEng (hons) in Computer and Robotics systems. I am very passionate about building robots and have inspired my colleagues to do the same. I am currently employed as a Power Engineer with British Power International, where I work on detailed substation design and provide technical expertise in Oman.
Myself and some friends demonstrated to the University how simple robots can be built which provide an excellent learning platform, and as a result the University have changed the way they utilise their Year 1 lab sessions to include our robots.
From now on the year 1's start by building a simple Symet robot in their first lab session, they then move on to build a line following obstacle avoiding robot, this can take the form of a BEAM robot or a micro-processor controlled robot.
My year 2 university project, for which I won a best project of the year award for, was a light seeking walking hexapod robot, Queen Ant. Queen Ant walks and seeks light without the use of a single micro-processor, not a single line of human programming has been used, yet the 6 legs walk perfectly. My final year project for which I achieved a first class grade,
was another hexapod, this one is a human heat seeking hexapod robot, R.A.D.A.R.
With this site I hope to inspire others to build BEAM robots, and offer a general reference point for anyone interested in them. Please feel free to ask questions via e-mail or in the forum.
Search the site here:
On this site you will find:
Year Ones: Any problems with your projects, or need help with robot ideas? Let us know in the forum
BEAM robot circuits - a comprehensive list of circuits including solar engines, and full robot circuits
My BEAM robots - walking robots, solar powered photopopper, sumobots, solar racers, headbots and more
Javascript programs - including a handy resistor calculator, binary hexidecimal and denary converters, and Mastermind game
C - programming examples - also including a resistor calculator, hex converter, matrix program, and misc uni projects
Forum - chat about anything, ask questions about robots, seek help with uni work, tell jokes!
A few of my BEAM robots
My Robots:
2 sumo robots (mini sumo), 'Police mini sumo' & 'Police V2 mini sumo' - these robots have to fight in a ring and force the other off of the ring without falling out itself.
Solarbotics.net - Community pages JWGoerlich's site - A fellow BEAMer who has made some great robots. Also some great Solar Engine tests! Harold's BEAM bots - An Excellent site with some amazing robots Mini Sumo - All the sumo info you could need
You can search the site here:
Webmaster: Tom Elner 2006 TomboT
